The Break with Rome

This realm of England is an empire

In April 1533 Parliament passed an Act with a preamble that began: this realm of England is an empire. The word meant that the king answered to nobody on earth, and the Act that followed the preamble forbade any appeal from an English court to Rome. Five weeks later, on 23 May 1533, Archbishop Cranmer sat at Dunstable and declared the marriage of the king to Catherine of Aragon null. On 1 June Anne Boleyn was crowned, and on 7 September she gave birth to Elizabeth. Then Parliament made the new order permanent. The Act of Succession in March 1534 settled the crown on the children of Anne and demanded an oath from every adult. The Act of Supremacy in November 1534 declared the king Supreme Head of the Church of England, without qualification. The Treasons Act of the same session made it treason from 1 February 1535 to deny that by words alone. By July 1535 a bishop, a former Lord Chancellor and a houseful of Carthusian monks were dead for refusing. The exam bullet asks three things: why the break happened, what the Acts of 1534 meant, and how they were enforced. This module gives you the dated evidence for each.

Five words for a revolution by statute

Each definition ends with the moment it mattered, because a bare definition earns nothing in a 12-mark answer.

The statutes in order

Put these six steps in the break with Rome in the order they happened.

• The clergy are charged with praemunire and buy a pardon, granting the king the title of Supreme Head as far as the law of Christ allows
• The Submission of the Clergy: Convocation gives up the right to make church law without royal assent, and More resigns the next day
• The Act in Restraint of Appeals declares England an empire and stops appeals to Rome
• Cranmer annuls the marriage to Catherine at Dunstable and Anne is crowned
• The Act of Succession settles the crown on the children of Anne and demands an oath from every adult
• The Act of Supremacy makes the king Supreme Head without qualification and the Treasons Act makes words treason

Why break with Rome at all?

Henry had been called Defender of the Faith by the Pope in 1521 and had no quarrel with Catholic doctrine. Which explanation best accounts for the break?

• The annulment could not be had from a Pope in the power of the Emperor, so a Church under the king was the only way to marry Anne and get a male heir; the same Church owned perhaps a quarter of the land of England and sent Rome payments the Crown could take instead; and the Commons of 1529 already resented church courts and fees, which gave Cromwell a Parliament willing to pass the Acts.
• Henry had become a Protestant and wanted Lutheran doctrine in England.
• The Pope excommunicated Henry first and the Acts were a reply.
• Cromwell forced the king into it against his will.

Succession and Supremacy: what each Act did

The question will name the two Acts of 1534. Know what each one actually changed and what it demanded, and notice that Succession came first.

Enforcement, not legislation

Five statements about 1534 and 1535. Tap the TWO that give evidence of how the break was enforced, as opposed to what the Acts said.

• From April 1534 commissioners administered the oath of succession in every county, and Cromwell kept a network of informers who reported words spoken against the king in inns and pulpits.
• The Act in Restraint of Appeals of 1533 opened with the claim that this realm of England is an empire.
• On 4 May 1535 the priors of three Carthusian houses were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn for refusing the supremacy, and Fisher and More followed them to the block in June and July.
• The Act of First Fruits and Tenths of 1534 diverted to the Crown the first year of income of every new bishop.
• The title of Supreme Head granted in 1531 had carried the words as far as the law of Christ allows, and the Act of 1534 dropped them.

The resisters

Select the THREE statements that are true of those who refused the oath or the supremacy.

• Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor until May 1532, refused the oath of succession on 13 April 1534, was convicted under the Treasons Act on the evidence of Richard Rich, and was beheaded on 6 July 1535.
• John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, refused the oath with More, was made a cardinal by Pope Paul III while in the Tower, and was beheaded on 22 June 1535.
• The priors of the London Charterhouse and two other Carthusian houses were executed at Tyburn on 4 May 1535 as the first to die under the new law.
• Archbishop Cranmer refused to take the oath and was replaced.
• Catherine of Aragon was executed for refusing to accept the annulment.
• The Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned for opposing the Act of Supremacy.

Reasons and significance: how to weigh them

The 16-mark question on this bullet will give you one reason or one Act and ask how far it explains the break or its importance. The strong answer weighs several and says which mattered when. Reasons. The annulment started it: everything from the praemunire charge of 1530 to Dunstable in May 1533 was aimed at the marriage. Money and power kept it going: Annates, First Fruits and Tenths, the praemunire fine, and a Church the king could now visit, reform and tax. The temper of the Commons made it possible: the anticlerical Parliament of 1529 passed every Act Cromwell put before it. Without the marriage there would have been no break in 1533; without the money and power there would have been no reason to make it permanent in 1534. Significance. Succession changed who would rule; Supremacy changed who ruled the Church; the Treasons Act changed what it was safe to say. Together they moved the final authority in England from Rome to Westminster, and did it by Act of Parliament, which meant that Parliament had been used to decide questions of religion and the crown for the first time. This meant that the monasteries could be dissolved from 1536 and the Pilgrimage of Grace could be crushed as treason, because the law that made those things possible was already in place.

In the shoes of the king and his minister

Four moments between 1530 and 1535. Choose what was actually done, and notice what each choice made possible.

• Late 1530. Rome has recalled the divorce case and the Pope will not decide it. You are Henry. You want the clergy of England to feel that they answer to you, not to the Pope, before you go further. What do you do?
• Early 1533. Anne is pregnant, the child must be born in wedlock, and Cranmer is about to be consecrated. You are Cromwell. What Act do you put through Parliament first?
• April 1534. The Act of Succession is law and the oath is being administered. More and Fisher, the two most respected men in England, refuse it. What do you do?
• January 1535. The Act of Supremacy is passed and the king can visit, reform and correct the Church. You are Henry. Who will actually do it?

From cause to consequence

Because the Pope was in the power of the _____, the annulment could not come from Rome. Because the Commons of 1529 hated the church courts, Cromwell could use the Supplication of _____ to force the clergy to submit. Because the Act in Restraint of Appeals stopped cases going to Rome, _____ could annul the marriage at Dunstable in May 1533. Because the Act of Succession demanded an _____ from every adult, refusal became a crime and the state could find out who refused. And because the Treasons Act of November 1534 made _____ alone treason, More could be convicted on the report of a single conversation.

The price of a pardon

In 1531 Henry charged the whole clergy with praemunire and pardoned them in return for a fine: 100,000 pounds from the province of Canterbury and about 19,000 pounds from York. What was the total fine, in thousands of pounds?

The 4-mark question

Question (a) might read: Describe two features of the Act of Supremacy of 1534. It is marked feature plus supporting detail, twice. Which answer scores all four marks?

• One feature was that it declared the king Supreme Head of the Church of England without the qualification of 1531, "as far as the law of Christ allows", which was dropped. Another was that it gave the king power to visit, reform and correct the Church, which he used in January 1535 by making Cromwell Vicegerent in Spirituals.
• It made Henry head of the Church. It was passed in 1534.
• The Act of Supremacy was the most important Act of the whole reign and changed England for ever.
• The Act was passed because Henry needed the annulment and wanted the money of the Church.

A 12-mark paragraph, marked

Question (b): Explain why Henry VIII broke with Rome in the years 1529 to 1534. One reason for the break with Rome was that the annulment could not be obtained from the Pope. Henry had been seeking a divorce from Catherine of Aragon since 1527, but Pope Clement VII was in the power of Charles V, the nephew of Catherine, after the sack of Rome, and in July 1529 the case was recalled from Blackfriars to Rome where it would never be decided. This meant that if the king was to marry Anne Boleyn and have a legitimate son, the decision had to be made in England, and that required an English Church whose courts answered to the king and not to Rome. The Act in Restraint of Appeals of April 1533 was written for exactly that purpose, and Cranmer used it to annul the marriage at Dunstable five weeks later. The break with Rome began as the only route to the annulment. What earned the marks: a cause named in the first sentence; specific support (1527, Clement and Charles, Blackfriars, the Appeals Act, Dunstable); the link phrase this meant that; and a closing sentence that returns to the question. Two more paragraphs, on the wealth and power of the Church and on the anticlerical Parliament that Cromwell managed, and the answer reaches the top level.

Write the 12-mark answer

Explain why Henry VIII broke with Rome in the years 1529 to 1534. You may use the following in your answer: the annulment; the wealth of the Church. You must also use information of your own.

• Support that counts: a date, an Act, a sum of money or a name
• Causes of your own: the anticlerical Commons of 1529, the power the supremacy gave the king, or the part played by Cromwell and statute

The 16-mark judgement

Question (c) might read: "The main reason for the break with Rome was the need for an annulment." How far do you agree? A student has written the case FOR. Which is the strongest point to set AGAINST it?

• The annulment was done at Dunstable in May 1533, yet the Acts that made the break permanent, Supremacy, Treasons and First Fruits and Tenths, all came in November 1534, eighteen months later, and every one of them was about power and money rather than the marriage, so the annulment explains why the break began and the wealth and authority of the Church explain why it was never undone.
• Cromwell did it all, so the annulment does not matter.
• Henry was a Protestant and wanted to reform the Church.
• Elizabeth was born in September 1533, so the annulment worked.